

Viewing angles were excellent from side to side, and unlike the previous generation MacBook, vertical viewing angles are just as good. However, this system doesn't have the same 60 percent greater color gamut as the MacBook Pro line, so photo editors will want to think twice. The 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy display on the MacBook has a resolution of 1280 x 800, and images were bright and crisp. It makes getting around long webpages and Google Reader feed lists much easier, but users who find it annoying can disable it in the system settings. Just as with the new MacBook Pros and the iPhone and iPad, Apple added inertial scrolling to the MacBook's touchpad. We were able to rest our left thumb on the pad and still move the cursor around without the notebook misinterpreting our movements. More importantly, it wasn't jerky and finicky, like the touchpad/button combo on the HP Envy 13. When we used two fingers to zoom in and out of pages in Safari 4, the onscreen response was very quick. By pushing four fingers toward the top of the touchpad, we were able to fling windows up toward the top of the screen, exposing a clean desktop. The multitouch gestures work smoothly, too.

Like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, Apple's honed the design: we were able to effortlessly press down on the button without thinking about the fact that there's no dedicated touch button (nevermind two). At 4.0 x 3.0 inches, not only is this trackpad the largest we've ever tested, but is very low friction, too. Not only is the island-style keyboard well-spaced, but the keys themselves were comfortable to the touch, and were snappy in response.Īpple has also brought the same touchpad as on its other notebooks: it doubles as the touchpad and the touch button. However, that seems to be the only concession. Unlike the MacBook Pros, the MacBook's keyboard is not backlit some concessions have to be made for the price. This was noticeable when on our lap and much hotter than the previous generation, which only reached 97 degrees during the same test.

The hottest area of the notebook was nearest the hinge on the bottom, which measured a whopping 120 degrees. At 13.0 x 9.1 x 1.1 inches and weighing 4.8 pounds, the MacBook slightly larger and heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12.8 x 8.9 x 1.0 inches, 4.4 pounds), but isn't too great a difference that we couldn't carry it comfortably in our messenger bag.Īfter playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the temperature of the MacBook in several places: the touchpad only got as hot as 81 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H key reached 92 degrees, and the underside of the notebook reached just 94 degrees.
